Myanmar protesters back on the streets
Large crowds demonstrating against the military coup in Myanmar again defied a ban on protests on Wednesday, even after security forces used force and raided the headquarters of the political party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Witnesses estimated that tens of thousands of protesters, if not more, turned out in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s biggest cities. Anti-military rallies also took place in the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere.
The protesters are demanding that power be restored to Suu Kyi’s deposed civilian government. They’re also seeking freedom for her and other governing party members since the military detained them on February 1. Some demonstrators in Yangon gathered at foreign embassies to seek international pressure against the coup.
Outside China’s embassy in Yangon, the pro-democracy protesters appealed directly to Chinese President Xi Jinping to withdraw his government’s support for the military. They
pleaded with Xi to help reverse the coup, while others held signs reading “we are watching you” and “we know what you’re up to,” photographs taken by local media outlets showed.
Protesters also gathered in front of embassies of the US, Japan, Korea and India as well as the United Nations offices in an attempt to build international support for the return of a civilian government.
A small group outside the Japanese embassy held signs and chanted “We want democracy, we get dictators!” They sat in several children’s wading pools, three or fewer per pool, in what appeared to be a tongue-incheek way of showing compliance with an emergency law that bans gatherings of more than five people. Another group hauled a fake coffin as part of a mock funeral for Min Aung Hlaing, the military chief who is the country’s new leader.